WASHINGTON — Rahul Krishnaswamy thought he was prepared the first time he competed in the Scripps National Spelling Bee. Now, he realizes he wasn’t.

“Last time, we were pretty naive about this whole thing,” he said. “We didn’t know how it works. We didn’t know much about spelling bees at all.”

When the Johnson City eighth-grader makes his second appearance in the national contest this week, he will do so with a better understanding of what he can expect and with more confidence that this time he is ready.